The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-06-06
American Girls In France.


lures. 1t is not that n broad and beau
tful street called lAvenue de lOpcra
has given air to one quarter OF the city,
and other beautiful broad boulevards
have given air and light even TO the old
fashioned Faubourg Saint German; it
is as though, through these new thor
oughfares, new ideas had swept in with
the fresh air. or all those new ideas.
the newest are the ideas Oh female edu-
cation, on the bringing up of girls.
Read an old fashioned novel or 90 TO n
theater, where, perchance, Il play dat
ing back some thirty years or so is to be
revived, and the thing which strikes
you most forcibly is that the young
girls represented in the novel or in the
play are MS different as possible from
the modern young girls You meet in
good French society. These maidens
by no means put down their eyes and
answer: "Oui, monsieur" "Non, mon
sieur," as their mammas did before
them. They have decided opinions, they
ride on horseback, they know what they
want to obtain in the matrimonial mar
ket, they are very practical aud laugh
at sentimentality as being vieux jeu!
When French moralists reason upon
the matter they Invariably end up
with this exclamation: ave owe this
chang to America!' / heard French
man, and by no means u narrow-mind-
ed one, say the other day, half in earn
est and half in jest: Let us beware of
America! it is an invading nation. The
American girls have forced their boston
into our bathrooms in tho place of our
trois temps. Girls who are capable OF
accomplishing such feat are capable
of turning our old society topsy-turvy!"
The question is whether society will
not profit by being thus turned topsy-
turvy.
was thinking of these things when
NJ. Ludovic Halcvy's last volume fell
under my notice. NJ. Ludovic Halevy,
though he is now one OF the forty i'm.
mortals and has his seat under the
dome of the institute, still takes an
interest in small dramas enacted in
young girls brains All acadcmcaus
do not necessarily pass their time over
the academy dictionary. that monu-
ment of ages. But instead of initial
ing us into the mysteries OF the opera
green-room M. Halevy considers that
it is due to his new dignity to study
objects belonging to'a better, or at
least higher class Of society. and his
book bears the pretty title of "Prin-
cesse."
have no intention of sending you
a literary criticism, but rs 'Princesse"
contains several short stories, admira-
bly, told, and nearly all on the same
subject-"A Paris Girls Marriage
the book will serve my purpose, which
is to present moderu French maiden
to your notice. | do not pretend that
these portraits are absolute likenesses,
but since NJ. Halevy is a delicate OBJ
server, since he lives among the peo-
pie he describes, and since MI his coun-
try people recognize his talent of an
alysis and description, We cannot err
greatly by following in his footsteps.
And yet feel n certain scruple. M.
Halevy is perhaps not to be absolutely
relied upon. Some years ago in his
"Abbe Constantine. he presented two
Americans to his readers, two sisters,
so charming. SO full of noble senti-
ments. SO generous, so absolutely per-
feet that we. the real Americans. felt
little shy and were inclined to say to
our painter: THE portraits are just q
little battered" But on second thought
we did not protest; lady sitters rarely
find their portraits too much fiattered.
However. since am in n vein of sim
cerity will confess that American
girls, in spite of their real charm are
not perfect-I mean American girls
abroad. As TO the others, 1 willingly
believe in a perfection which 1 can no
longer personally observe.
American girls -abroad-are just a
little. a very little, self-asserting. They
are so sure of carrying all before them
that in the process they do not mind |
upsetting other peoples furniture. and
even walking on other peoples corns.
They are so intimately convinced that |